The Cherokee County grand jury indicted a former school officer accused of killing a police dog he left in a hot patrol car.
Daniel Peabody was indicted on two counts of aggravated cruelty to animals and making a false statement, the District Attorney said Wednesday.
In June, Peabody allegedly left Inca, a 4-year-old Belgian Malinois, inside a patrol car for nearly three hours, the Cherokee marshal's office said. When Peabody returned to the car, the dog was dead. A necropsy determined the dog died from heat stroke.
Peabody's patrol car was not equipped to transport dogs, Maj. Jamie Gianfala previously told The Atlanta Journal-Constitution. Peabody was arrested and later resigned from his position with the school system.
While being questioned about Inca’s death, Peabody allegedly made false statements about the death of a former police dog, Gianfala said. Dale, a Labrador retriever, retired from K9 duty with the Cherokee school system in 2012 and was turned over to Peabody, who had worked with the dog for five years. But not long after his retirement, Dale died, and Peabody claimed the dog had accidentally choked on a toy.
“However, the investigation yielded evidence that Dale was in fact shot and killed by Peabody at his Paulding County home shortly after Dale was retired from service,” Gianfala said.
Peabody is currently free on bond. In August, a judge ruled that Peabody can be around animals, but cannot make life and death decisions about them, nor can he have guns at his house.
Conviction on a charge of aggravated cruelty to animals carries a sentence of one to five years in prison and a fine of up to $15,000.
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